Five Short Stories for October

It is that time again! Shadows lengthen outside; summer has passed and the year wanes. I have been diligently working on a series of short stories to reveal to you during each week of the best (and my favorite) month of the year.

This autumn's tales are a slight departure from previous Octobers as you'll see. Not so much direct horror. I hope you will enjoy these stories as much as I enjoyed writing them. 

As usual, if these tales aren't your cup of Irish Breakfast, just hang on and my regular essays will return in November.

Beryl Almighty 

As a single mother of two elementary-aged children, Beryl struggles to find balance and her place in the choppy social structure of school-age parenting. Waking one morning to discover that she may have the powers of a god, Beryl finds out that even possessing godlike abilities may not be as beneficial as one might assume.

Gatorland Junction 

Fresh from a stint in prison and trying to put his life back together, Barry gets a job cutting the grass at a fancy apartment and condo complex in balmy Charleston, S.C. When a hot summer day turns stormy, catching Barry working by a retention pond, he finds himself locked in a battle against a formidable and ancient swamp dweller that has claimed the pond for its own.

Oh, Avatar

We have all created personas that do not really match up with the real us on social media. In this story, a man chronicles how his creation, which he used to build an idealized version of himself over the years, has taken on a life of its own and wants him gone. 

Earth Circle

John Kevin Eddington yearns to break free of gravity and fly away from the grief and loss of life. He has climbed to the top of one of the Twin Pinnacles, a nearly 800-foot stone tower in downtown Hantonville, to finally break the bonds of the earth and return to the arms of the woman he loves.

The Adventure of the Double Lady 

John H. Watson, doughty companion of Sherlock Holmes on countless adventures, takes down a book of previously unpublished tales in which he and the great detective face a malevolent mind, sinister and determined to undo a family home and checkmate Holmes at every turn. It will put the duo to great pains to solve the mystery and it could cause the masterful Sherlock Holmes his sanity.

Thanks for your dedicated readership and I hope you have a great autumn and a terrifyingly wonderful October!